Notes and Essays -- John Brown

Ivan Novoselov  ·  Following Russian, interested in history and politics Updated Sep 1 https://www.quora.com/ JB: I found this article hard to follow,  but -- as an ignorant American --  read it with considerable interest. Why did Stalin perceive Ukrainians as a threat, leading to the reversal of Ukrainization, and what were the consequences of this shift? In 1952, my great-uncle graduated from Kharkov university as a medic. Yet, when he wanted to find job in Kharkov, he was told by high-ranked party members that the jobs are reserved only for Ukrainians. As the result, he moved to Belarus where he worked and lived for the rest of his life and made a spectacular career in medicine. Ukrainization was never actually reversed. Even in East Ukraine. Especially considering that for 30 years after Stalin’s death the USSR was governed by Ukrainians. Khrutschev often wore Ukrainian ethnic clothing. He wasn't a bad leader for his time, but many of his situational decisions an...

Mounting Ukrainian strikes, orders from the Kremlin are forcing industries to take responsibility for protecting themselves By Thomas Grove and Daria Matviichuk The Wall Street Journal Sept. 25, 2026 10:00 pm ET Original article contains numerous links Smoke rises from a Russian warehouse following a Ukrainian drone attack. Social Media/ UGC/ Reuters UGC / Reuters / Quick Summary   -- Russian businesses are increasingly forced to defend themselves as Ukrainian drone strikes intensify and the Kremlin mandates self-protection.  -- A Kremlin decree warned that companies failing to take responsibility for their protection against Ukrainian drones could face state seizure.  -- Russian businesses are leasing air-defense systems, building their own and hiring gunners to shoot down incoming drones. This summary was generated with AI and reviewed by an editor. Read more about how we use artificial intelligence in our journalism. When a Ukrainian drone struck one of Russia’s b...

A publisher whose warehouse was hit twice said Moscow “thinks that books are more dangerous for them than military equipment.” The Ranok Publishing warehouse in Kharkiv, Ukraine, after it was struck twice by Russian drones in August. Credit... Sergey Bobok/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images By Kim Barker and Oleksandra Mykolyshyn Reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine The New York Times Sept. 25, 2026, 5:01 a.m. ET The first Russian jet-powered drone slammed into the warehouse about 11 a.m. on a Saturday in August. The fire burned so hot that employees could not extinguish it. Within minutes, the second drone hit the building, and everyone ran for the shelter. The fire burned for almost a week. By then, almost everything inside was gone. This was no weapons depot, no drone manufacturer, no cog in the war machine. Instead, the warehouse targeted by the drones belonged to Ranok Publishing, one of the largest children’s book publishers in Ukraine. The company, based in the northeastern city of K...